tifosi77 wrote:Finally got around to watching "Les Misérables" on ye BluRay. This is coming from an abashed fan of the stage musical, so.......

Spoiler:

[spoiler]I was totally fine with most of the changes made to the libretto and staging, the additions, and the spoken dialog. However, one thing was almost singularly terrible: Russell Crowe. The man's voice was soft and wimpy. Javert is supposed to have an unearthly bellow, which makes the contrast with Valjean's more soaring vocals the more sharp, and gives the Inspector a menace. The fact that the he was singing in the same voice as Valjean, especially during the confrontation scene after Fantine dies, totally gutted the tension that was supposed to be in the vocal lines. It was just two dudes singing while they fought. Which was kinda dumb. Every time I saw him appear on screen, it made me sad.

But I was a hot mess when Fantine sang "I Dreamed A Dream". That was some good stuff, wow. And I quite liked how Thénardier went from a houh-houh-houh outrageous French accent to the more acceptable "stage Cockney-French" mid-performance. I thought that was actually kinda funny. Overall he and HBC did pretty credible jobs. The standout vocal performance was Samantha Barks, which I guess is to be expected as she actually played the role (Éponine) on stage. Hugh Jackman did a pretty fantastic job as well, but it was a real treat seeing Colm Wilkinson (the original stage Valjean) as the Bishop of Digne.

[/spoiler]

Spoiler:

my problem with Russel Crowe and Javert was that he just wasn't convincing enough to really care that much to kill himself and that's not necessarily on Crowe. That aside, the more I rewatch this, the more I actually like Crowes performance. What did you think about Marius?

Last edited by eddysnake on Mon Jun 10, 2013 9:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

tifosi77 wrote:Finally got around to watching "Les Misérables" on ye BluRay. This is coming from an abashed fan of the stage musical, so.......

Spoiler:

[spoiler]I was totally fine with most of the changes made to the libretto and staging, the additions, and the spoken dialog. However, one thing was almost singularly terrible: Russell Crowe. The man's voice was soft and wimpy. Javert is supposed to have an unearthly bellow, which makes the contrast with Valjean's more soaring vocals the more sharp, and gives the Inspector a menace. The fact that the he was singing in the same voice as Valjean, especially during the confrontation scene after Fantine dies, totally gutted the tension that was supposed to be in the vocal lines. It was just two dudes singing while they fought. Which was kinda dumb. Every time I saw him appear on screen, it made me sad.

But I was a hot mess when Fantine sang "I Dreamed A Dream". That was some good stuff, wow. And I quite liked how Thénardier went from a houh-houh-houh outrageous French accent to the more acceptable "stage Cockney-French" mid-performance. I thought that was actually kinda funny. Overall he and HBC did pretty credible jobs. The standout vocal performance was Samantha Barks, which I guess is to be expected as she actually played the role (Éponine) on stage. Hugh Jackman did a pretty fantastic job as well, but it was a real treat seeing Colm Wilkinson (the original stage Valjean) as the Bishop of Digne.

Spoiler:

my problem with Russel Crowe and Javert was that he just wasn't convincing enough to really care that much to kill himself and that's not necessarily on Crowe. That aside, the more I rewatch this, the more I actually like Crowes performance. What did you think about Marius?

He was okay, neither good nor bad. The problem I had with him was he reminded me of a Formula One driver named Jenson Button, so every time he popped on screen I was like "Jens!" I mean, he doesn't really look that much like the driver, but it was enough that it was distracting. Not his fault, of course.

After watching the movie, I went down the Les Miz meme rabbit hole for about half an hour. Lots of funny "friend zone" pics of Éponine

It's called "Rush" and it's about the 1975 World Championship. That season was pretty dramatic and is sort of dear to F1 fans, so they've got a big job in getting it right. But what I've seen of it so far is absolutely spectacular. The guy playing Niki Lauda is uncanny. Look, sound.... he is Lauda.

Fwiw, the rain in the shots from the final race (Fuji) is very important to the outcome of the story. But probably not how you'd imagine.

Cloud Atlas" was solid. Felt a little long, but not nearly as long as it actually was, since it keeps you pretty engaged throughout the whole thing. Contrary to what some have said, the themes and ideas the movie deals with aren't overly complex -- it's just the way they are presented that can trip you up. Even if the movie weren't good (and it is good), it's exciting in itself to watch something this extremely ambitious on screen, and it's shame it's not doing well at the box office. I love seeing directors take big risks like this, and it's something we don't see nearly enough.

To add to that -- Great score (read this before you watch, in regard to the score), great editing. I will definitely rewatch again, it's just a matter of finding the time -- pretty busy nowadays.

Cloud Atlas" was solid. Felt a little long, but not nearly as long as it actually was, since it keeps you pretty engaged throughout the whole thing. Contrary to what some have said, the themes and ideas the movie deals with aren't overly complex -- it's just the way they are presented that can trip you up. Even if the movie weren't good (and it is good), it's exciting in itself to watch something this extremely ambitious on screen, and it's shame it's not doing well at the box office. I love seeing directors take big risks like this, and it's something we don't see nearly enough.

To add to that -- Great score (read this before you watch, in regard to the score), great editing. I will definitely rewatch again, it's just a matter of finding the time -- pretty busy nowadays.

Thanks, I must have done something wrong, because nothing came up in the search...